Nigeria Prize for Literature
1 appearances
-
Edition 2 (2005) Winner
Gabriel Okara
ガブリエル・オカラ
Gaburieru Okara
Aliases:
Gabriel Imomotimi Okara / Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1921-04-24 （Bomoundi, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria）
- Died
- 2019-03-25 （Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria） age 97
- Nationality
- Nigeria
- Languages
- English, Ijaw
- Residence History
- Bomoundi, Nigeria → Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria → Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria
Career
- Occupations
- Novelist, Poet, Printer, Bookbinder, Information Officer, Director of Publishing House
- Active Years
- 1953-2019
- Affiliations
- Rivers State Publishing House
- Influenced By
- Chinua Achebe
- Influenced
- African poets
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government College Umuahia | — | General Education | — | — | Nigeria |
| Yaba Higher College | — | — | — | — | Nigeria |
| Northwestern University | — | Journalism | — | 1949 | United States |
Government College Umuahia
General Education
Country:
Nigeria
Yaba Higher College
Country:
Nigeria
Northwestern University
Journalism
Period:
1949
Year of Graduation:
1949
Country:
United States
Studied journalism
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Best All-Round Entry In Poetry at the Nigerian Festival of Arts | The Call of the River Nun | — | Nigerian Festival of Arts | 受賞 |
| 1979 | Commonwealth Poetry Prize | The Fisherman's Invocation | — | Commonwealth Foundation | 受賞 |
| 2005 | NLNG Prize | The Dreamer, His Vision | — | Nigeria LNG | 受賞 |
| 2009 | Pan African Writers' Association Honorary Membership Award | — | — | Pan African Writers' Association | 受賞 |
Best All-Round Entry In Poetry at the Nigerian Festival of Arts
1953
Work:
The Call of the River Nun
Organization:
Nigerian Festival of Arts
Result:
受賞
Commonwealth Poetry Prize
1979
Work:
The Fisherman's Invocation
Organization:
Commonwealth Foundation
Result:
受賞
NLNG Prize
2005
Work:
The Dreamer, His Vision
Organization:
Nigeria LNG
Result:
受賞
Pan African Writers' Association Honorary Membership Award
2009
Organization:
Pan African Writers' Association
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
The Voice
1964 NovelExperimental novel depicting the inner tensions of a post-colonial African protagonist haunted by ideals amid societal hunt.
African cultureClash with Western cultureIdentity
The Fisherman's Invocation
1978 PoetryAward-winning poetry collection.
African thoughtFolklore
The Dreamer, His Vision
2005 PoetryAward-winning poetry collection.
VisionDream
Bibliography
- The Voice (1964)
- The Fisherman's Invocation (1978)
- Little Snake and Little Frog (1981)
- An Adventure to Juju Island (1992)
- The Dreamer, His Vision (2005)
- As I See It (2006)
- Collected Poems (2016)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Imposing Ijo syntax onto EnglishDirect translation from Ijaw to express African ideas
- Recurring Motifs
- Clash between traditional African and Western cultureFolkloreNiger River imagery
Legacy
First modernist poet of Anglophone Africa, pioneer of Nigerian literature in English.
In Popular Culture
- Gabriel Okara Literary Festival held in his honor
Trivia
- Many unpublished manuscripts destroyed during Nigerian Civil War